Ready or Not #117: Cream Soup Base Mix

I like soup a lot. It is filling, it feels good as it warms your stomach up, and it is also a comfort food, especially when you are sick. All of the items below are food storage friendly items, especially the water (2 gallons, per person, per day, for a two-week period). Sooo, I’m thinking that it would be a good thing to start looking for the following ingredients on sale. Or even better yet, grow and dry the items that you can — like the onions, garlic, basil and thyme — and then buy and store the rest.

Heat to a boil and stir frequently. Unless you are a single person making a single serving, I think that I would double, triple or quadruple the recipe to make it worth your while. Also, the trick to a good cream soup base is the dry milk that you use. If the powdered milk tastes bad to drink, it won’t taste any better in the soup. I really like the Country Cream brand. Powdered milk should taste like a good quality skim milk (yes, there is such a thing – my son doesn’t agree, but there is).

Mash the beans, just a little bit, in the bottom of a large soup pan. Stir in garlic, salt, pepper, oil and parsley. Then add the zucchini, celery, carrots (add now if you are using fresh, add at the end if they are canned or frozen), onion, tomatoes, butter or margarine and water.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer about an hour (I never wait that long). Add macaroni and the beef bouillon or tomato juice. Continue simmering until macaroni is tender. Serve hot – maybe you could even serve it with the 5-Minute Bread you made last week.

By the way, did you notice that everything in that recipe is food storage friendly also? Too easy.